Trip Report Completed - Shaky the Elevator, and other Disney World Tales

Lyear · Feb 20, 2018

We exited the Frozen theater with Luke still a little disappointed. He perked up though when we found a small video game center near the exit.

I don't think he realized it, but he was playing with a Star Wars character

in a Disney Infinity game. I believe it was Kylo Ren, but my memory isn't the greatest as we type this. He liked playing for a bit, and Makayla held the controller and thought she was playing as well.

It was around the time they were playing this game that I mentioned to Sara that a slushy would taste really good right now. So with that we ended up at Backlot Express for a little mid afternoon break. Luke, Makayla and I all got a blue slushie. Sara went with a BB8 cupcake.

The small rocks around the cupcake were some type of candy and became very popular for stealing from Sara. Maybe it was the culmination of a lot of walking throughout the week, but it felt really good to sit down inside and enjoy my slushy. It was a nice break in the day.

It didn't last too long though because our fastpass for Ariel's show was coming up. We walked over there, and when we arrived we learned it didn't take as long as we thought it would, because they hadn't started letting people for our showtime in yet. While we were near Star Wars launch bay, I had the great idea to use our Chase Visa card to get a character photo. Unfortunately, the cm at the entrance informed us that the Chase meet and greet had ended at 5pm. We were about 10 minutes too late

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We decided to pass the time we had by going into the studio store, which in hindsight wasn't a great idea because Luke and Makayla immediately wanted everything they saw. We ended up allowing them to get one thing each. Luke picked a track and Mickey racing car from the show Mickey and the Roadster Racers, and Makayla picked a baby Sven doll from Frozen, which she still sleeps with at night.

After money was spent and gifts purchased, it was time to check in for the show. We used our fastpasses to enter the queue. We had been standing there for about 3-5 minutes when Makayla, who was still potty training, had one of those :facepalm:

moments. We were just standing around, when she gets a concerned look on her face and announces to everyone in the immediate area that she had "poopied." I led her out of the queue and over for a diaper change. By the time we made it back, we were told the show had already started and we couldn't get into the theater

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So we now had some time to kill while Sara and Luke were enjoying the show. I asked Makayla if she wanted to meet a character, and she chose Doc McStuffins. She enjoyed seeing Doc as we approached and said hi, but once our turn came, she did not want to get close. Doc was very understanding, and I ended up staying in between for photos as Makayla made sure to keep her distance.

When we had finished, Sara and Luke were out from the show. When I asked Sara just now what she remembered about the show, she told me that the ceiling was lit to make it look like you were underwater, but couldn't tell me much more. I guess it wasn't the most memorable show

By this point the sun had gone down. Our night at HS was beginning. And what a busy, crowded night it would be.

Lyear · Feb 25, 2018

Right around the time we had finished meeting Doc and joining up with Sara and Luke, everyone was beginning to stake their claim to spots to watch Jingle Bell Jingle Bam in front of the theater. We quickly walked over and grabbed a space very near to where we had been last year.

Both the kids and I remembered that last year we had gotten popcorn for the show, so Luke and I sought out to get popcorn again. Unfortunately, the line was very, very long at the nearest popcorn stand. I figured it was just a popcorn stand, how long could this take? That was a poor mindset to have. Luke stood patiently beside me as the clock ticked closer and closer to the 6:30 start time. Once in a while he gave the -"Why is this taking so long?" Inside, I wanted to agree with him, but I tried to be the good parent and replied with something along the lines of "They need to help everyone in the order they got here."

As we stood in line, we saw more and more people coming in. When we had gotten in the popcorn line, we looked over and waved at Sara and Makayla. Now, we couldn't even see them due to all the people. My mind wondered if we'd be able to even get to them. Eventually, we made it to the front and ordered our snack sized popcorn. They handed us the popcorn just as they turned the lights off around us for the show.

Thankfully, Sara had put a battery operated strand of Christmas lights on our stroller, so it was relatively easy to find her in the darkness. It wasn't so easy to try to break through the crowd to get to her. "Excuse me, pardon me," became our refrain as we worked our way to the stroller. We ended up getting there just as the first fireworks were launched.

We settled Luke and Makayla with their popcorn and began the show.

I'm convinced that my favorite nighttime show at Disney is whichever one I happen to be set to watch next. I like them all, and they all have different things that make them so great. I've never see the Star Wars spectacular, so I can't speak for that, but the thing that I love about Jingle Bell Jingle Bam is that you are standing in the middle of the show. Fireworks are going off all around you. Everywhere you look there is something to be seen. It is really unlike any other show at WDW in that aspect.

The show lasted about 15 minutes and ended with snow falling on us, which Luke and Makayla enjoyed. Sort of a make up for the Frozen sing-along show.

Once it ended, the logjam of people was intense. I guess that was to be expected given the crowd that was watching. We started off following the line of people that were nearest to us going towards the front, then realized about 5 minutes later that they were going towards the old Starring Rolls area where it is only wide enough for about 1 person. We changed our strategy at that point and made our way to the main walkway. This one was moving a bit faster.

Our super plan for the evening had been to grab dinner along Sunset Blvd following Jingle Bell Jingle Bam, then go in for the 8pm showing of Fantasmic. I was seriously starting to reconsider these plans. Shortly after getting onto the main concourse, we got separated. Luke had been sitting in the stroller with me pushing, and Makayla was walking and holding Sara's hand. Initially it was just one person that got between us. But one person became 2, and 2 became three, and soon enough I couldn't even see Sara. We both knew where we were heading, so I figured it wasn't a huge deal.

The bigger issue was that once we turned onto Sunset Boulevard, foot traffic had completely come to a stop. I tried to look around the people in front of me, wondering what on earth was causing this backlog.

Eventually I reached my breaking point. I pulled out my phone and called Sara, and asked if she just wanted to call it a night. This crowd of people was just too much. She responded "once you get out of the people watching the Tower of Terror show it's not too bad."

. My response, "There's a tower of terror show going on?"

I had read about this projection show, but hadn't paid too much attention because it wasn't in our fans. Now as I looked up, I saw why people were not moving, they were taking in the show.

Photo credit goes to Sara for these. I certainly wasn't at a place to be taking photos. I did look ahead and see what was going on. What I soon realized was that if I got onto the sidewalk, people were moving a little bit. Luke and I got onto the sidewalk, and eventually came to a place where we could cross the boulevard and get into the local restaurant row near TOT.

Lyear · Feb 25, 2018

Our restaurant that evening was going to be Catalina Eddy's. They serve the individual pizzas Sara and I have come to know so well, starting from our time at Pizza Planet restaurant. We had thought this would be a fairly quick, enjoyable meal. Sara and Makayla were already in a very long line by the time Luke and I got to the restaurant. We parked the stroller and found them. We decided that I would remain in line, while Sara took the kids to find a table.

Unfortunately there weren't a lot of tables to be found due to the number of people around. A couple saw Sara looking around and offered to have her join them at their table. Sara was grateful to take them up on their hospitality. She called me and let me know where to find them as I remained in line.

The line was very full and was pretty hectic, but the cm's there did a great job. I have to tip my cap. It would have been impossible to make the process stress-free, but it at least went fairly smoothly. I actually ran into someone wearing a Hershey sweatshirt, so I found out they were from Hershey, PA, very close to our home in York.

At last our food came. Armed with 4 pizzas, drinks, salads, and desserts, I now began my obstacle course for the evening, getting a tray of food over to my family, who I only kind of knew where they were, without spilling any food. All the while having people dart right and left in front of me. Thankfully this story has a happy ending, and I delivered all the food to our table.

Dinner was pretty much a blur this night. Coursing around the crowds had gotten my nerves heightened, and it proved difficult to just turn them off with a flip of the switch. I remember Luke did a good job eating, but I think Makayla didn't eat that much. She did really enjoy the carrots that came with her meal. Sara was very happy to have a Frozen cupcake, and Luke was very happy to help her eat it.

As we finished dinner, I pulled out my phone and checked the MDE app. Luke had been wanting to go on Toy Story Midway Mania ever since our first time on the ride. I got the crazy idea to take him back over and wait standby while Sara and Makayla checked out Fantasmic. It was showing as a 60 minute wait, but I figured with the shows starting it would be going down shortly.

I talked with Sara about this and she was in agreement. Luke was very excited. Our plan was to hit the nearby restrooms, then separate.

Lyear · Feb 25, 2018

Once both kids had a chance to use the potty, I took Luke towards TSMM, and Sara took Makayla over towards Fantasmic. Luke and I had just arrived in line when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I checked and it was Sara calling me. The noise inside the queue was very loud, but I made out that they were heading my way. We let a few people go ahead of us, and sure enough there walking up the line were Sara and Makayla. I probably should have expected what she said next.

As soon as they made it to the first entrance of Fantasmic, they had been met by CM's letting them know the stadium was full and they were only letting in guests with the dining package. With all the people around, we should have realized that this would happen. Anyway, she quickly turned and began back towards TSMM. She had called me a few times, but I didn't feel the ringing in my pocket until Luke and I were already in line.

The good news is that the wait was only about 25 minutes for us, even though there was a 40 minute wait posted. Luke wanted to ride with me, so Sara rode with Makayla. Once we had finished, Luke really, really wanted to do it again, but the park was set to close soon. Also, since the only exit from the park from TSMM at the moment is through the main hub, I wanted to make sure we got through it before the next fireworks show started at 8:30.

We turned away from TSMM and made it to the front of the park without incident. I kept us moving quickly even when we got past the crowds of people ready for the next show, because my goal was to get into the bus lines before the Fantasmic crowds let out. We made it to a relatively deserted bus stop and got in line, and for what seemed the first time this week a bus came up almost immediately for us.

As we began moving, Fantasmic had clearly ended and the hordes of people were heading to the bus stop. Luke commented -"wow, we got on the bus just in time." To which Sara responded, "Don't act like your dad."

Back at the hotel, we spent a bit of time in the main lobby. Sara had noticed they installed new bus wait-time monitors outside.

We decided to let Luke spend a little more time in the arcade, since that was such a favorite of his. We then walked through the pool area and Luke and I played a quick game of foosball.

Once that had ended, we walked back towards our room from the lobby for the last time. We got the kids to bed, then Sara and I packed a little. The next day was departure day, but we had a lot of fun planned at Epcot before we left.

ScarletBegonias · Feb 26, 2018

Enjoying the trip report so far!!!

Lyear · Feb 26, 2018

ScarletBegonias said:
Enjoying the trip report so far!!!

thank you! I remember enjoying several of your prior reports. Thanks for following!

Lyear · Feb 26, 2018

Saturday, December 16th was our pack up day. It began very similarly to the rest, with a hint of sadness hanging over us. Sara and I woke up and got to packing things up, as well as getting the kids ready. The kids weren't quite as excited to get moving. Here's Luke with some massive bed head, watching TV as we get ready.

Sara took a photo of our window decorations before taking it down.

Once we were ready, I began taking bags and boxes to the car, while Luke played with his soccer ball wherever he could in our room. Sara managed to sneak a photo of me loading up the car without my knowledge.

And a few photos of the kids to remember our last day. Crazy as always.

I was able to occupy my mind with the task of packing the car, but before long everything was packed and it was time to leave for the last time. We piled into our very full car, and made our way to the main lobby. Checkout was painless, and once we had finished we stopped in the food court to fill our Disney mugs up with hot chocolate. And just like that, we were leaving All Star Music and on our way to Epcot.

Our win of the day came when we arrived at the bag check area just as they were opening up a whole new section of lines. First ones through!!! Score for us.

Again, I lamented over my lack of videotaping this trip by recording our entrance. For some reason, Luke fell in love with a leaf this morning and ended up holding it into the water of the fountain. Luckily he didn't end up going for a swim.

Our first stop of the day was at Living with the Land for our first fastpass. The fastpasses came fast and furious on our last day. Here we are entering. Makayla was so excited to wear her Elsa dress.

With our fastpasses, we were able to get directly on the ride with no wait. It was only about a 20 minute wait at this point anyway.

Once we had finished our green boat ride, it was time for our Royal Princess breakfast at Akershus in Norway.

Lyear · Feb 26, 2018

Over the past year Makayla has really grown in her knowledge of Disney princesses. She has several books about them, has watched their movies, and has just about every princess doll (that look a lot like barbies, in my opinion.) When it got to the point where she could name just about every one of them, Sara and I decided that it would be worth our time to do princess meals. We had started yesterday with the Bon Voyage breakfast at La Trattoria, and today we were moving to the big time in princess meet and greets with Akershus.

This is another dining reservation that was extremely hard to get. On the day our reservations opened, I was only able to get a 2:40pm "lunch" slot. I checked the website and app religiously over the next few days, and actually found a 10:50 am breakfast time available. I remember it well because it actually came open as we were preparing to watch fireworks on July 4th. I continued to check the website, but never found anything better than 10:50. I guess all things considered it's not a horrible time to eat, especially for our last day.

We arrived a few minutes ahead of our reservation time. It was a little weird because you check in and they seat you off in an open area, but it seemed like no one was being called. The kids found a fun way to pass the time by climbing rocks :facepalm:

. Perfectly safe thing to do.

After a bit, there was some growing concern around us that we had been forgotten. They had not called anyone in almost 10 minutes. With the fact that the restaurant would soon be going through a changeover from breakfast to lunch, I guess some of the concerns might have been legitimate. But just as these fears were growing, a cm came out and called just about everyone waiting at the same time. We followed him towards the entrance, which ran parallel with the queue for the Frozen Ever After ride.

Here we are waiting to go in.

Once we got inside, we realized we were in a line to meet Belle. Belle did not come around to the tables, but greeted everyone as they entered.

Once we had our photo taken, we were led to our table. Makayla was excited!

And a few photos we took of our surroundings.

We noticed all the families that entered around the same time as us were seated in the same area. It must be something they plan out.

A view of the entrance, we were actually pretty close to it.

Our server came by and let us know that the buffet was open for fruit, danishes, etc. Just as we were thinking of heading up, an announcement came over the speakers that the princesses were having their processional, and everyone was invited to join in. Soon Snow White was near our table ready to lead the boys and girls.

Luke wasn't interested, he was busy being a boy. Makayla wanted to go, but I couldn't convince her to let go of my hand. She was only interested if someone came with her. I looked around and there were other parents walking, so I took my turn at being a pretty princess in the processional

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Makayla enjoyed it, so I guess that's what matters.

Lyear · Feb 26, 2018

Once we had wrapped up, we took our turns going through the buffet, and later they brought a plate of cheesy potatoes and scrambled eggs to our table. We asked them to please leave the meat off the plate.

Cinderella was the first princess to visit us.

Makayla had become much better at meeting characters, especially the "human" ones, but she still wasn't interested in getting out of her chair.

Snow White was next. I reminded Luke of how much he loved the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and Snow White asked him which dwarf was his favorite. Luke's face went blank

. Naming dwarves is not something we had practiced. He sheepishly answered "I don't know," and Snow White responded that it was alright, she couldn't pick a favorite either.

Ariel was next. After our brief interaction with the Ariel at Trattoria al Forno, I was prepared with a question this time. I asked how Flounder was doing, since Makayla really likes Flounder from the movie. She responded that Flounder was working on his own singing audition and asked if Makayla had any song suggestions for him. I don't think Makayla fully understood the question, but at least we got a nice photo

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Lyear · Feb 26, 2018

Shortly after Ariel left, the music began playing for the princess processional again. This time Aurora came to our area to be the lead, and both Luke and Makayla were interested in walking, and of course wanted me to come with them. Sara was able to videotape our walk.

Somehow with all the responsibility of leading our procession party, Aurora had never come to our table. Shortly after we had sat down, one of the character helpers came by and asked if we had seen everyone, and we explained we had not seen her yet. He asked around a few other tables, and then made his way to a back room. Shortly after Aurora came out and apologized that she had passed by our table, but was more than happy to smile for a picture.

Once we had met Sleeping Beauty, our princess meal had come to a close. Looking back, I would say this was a great experience. The food was good, but the draw of the meal was the chance to meet the princesses and interact with them. I know Makayla loved meeting everyone, and even Luke came around after starting off being very boy and not wanting to meet princesses. This is certainly a meal we'll be doing again on our next trip.

We packed up our things and exited back into Epcot, but we weren't done meeting princesses for the day.

ScarletBegonias · Feb 27, 2018

The sadness on the last day is real

Looks like you had a nice breakfast meeting the princesses. My daughter is princess obsessed. She would love this!

amjt660 · Feb 28, 2018

Someone is getting over her shyness.......

Max

Lyear · Mar 1, 2018

ScarletBegonias said:
The sadness on the last day is real

Looks like you had a nice breakfast meeting the princesses. My daughter is princess obsessed. She would love this!

Definitely would recommend it. We had a great time.

amjt660 said:
Someone is getting over her shyness.......

Max

It comes and goes. I think the immersion of seeing characters all day everyday in WDW helped, but next time we see a character we might be back to the beginning.

Lyear · Mar 1, 2018

As we exited Akershus, I quick check of the MDE app showed that Anna and Elsa only had a 25 minute wait. I suggested this to Sara and she was on board. She took plenty of photos of the inside of the cottage as we waited. Makayla was very excited to get to meet Elsa.

There's plenty of family portraits throughout the inside.

The inside queue area was very wide open. It almost felt like a museum. There was so much to look at, it really didn't feel like we were waiting in line.

Lyear · Mar 1, 2018

Finally, the big moment came. We were led into a room and Anna was the first to greet us. Makayla snuck a glance at Elsa as we met her. Luke wasn't very excited to be meeting princesses.

Anna was very interactive. She was telling us all about the small snowmen they had running around the castle, and how Olaf was trying to come up with different nose ideas for them. Luke suggested an acorn nose, which she thought was a fabulous idea. Great meet and greet with Anna.

Apparently Makayla's shy look of the day involves picking her nose

Then it was the time Makayla had been waiting for.

Elsa right away commented that it looked like her little twin was coming. Makayla was quick to point out the little picture of Elsa on her dress, and Elsa said that she should get a small picture of Makayla to wear around. Finally I reminded Makayla of seeing Elsa in the parade at MK earlier in the week, and Makayla remembered that Elsa had waived at her. Elsa replied that she thought Makayla looked familiar and remembered seeing her. Great interaction, and one that was filled with magic for Makayla.

When we got outside, Luke announced he had to use the bathroom, so Sara took the time to take some photos of Makayla. She still had a giant smile on her face

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Lyear · Mar 1, 2018

After leaving Norway, we stopped in at the Mexican pavilion for a quick trip on the "Donald boat ride." Luke was in a much better mood after leaving the princesses behind. This was our 3rd time this trip riding the ride, but he was still giggling at the funny things Donald was up to.

It was then time for our Soarin fastpasses. Luke was willing to go on it again. He and Sara went first, while Makayla and I went on a journey into imagination. She decided that Figment was silly. To this day she will bring up "the purple dinosaur...what was his name?" We'll reminder her it was Figment. "Oh yeah, Figment. Figment is silly."

After this it was Luke and my turn for Soarin, while Makayla and Sara viewed the Circle of Life film. Luke and I got the bottom row on the right hand side. Not the best view by far, but Luke commented that he was happy not to go too high.

Once we ended, I texted Sara and she had made her way outside and was over by the imagination pavilion. She had been taking Makayla to see the leaping fountains, but since Luke and I were finished, we met up. In what has become a last day tradition, we did the Chase visa meet and greet. Luke was the first of us in the line, and just as Mickey and Goofy were saying goodbye to the last family, he rushed up and blindsided Mickey with a big hug. Mickey jumped at the unexpected contact, but quickly returned the hug.

Makayla was even willing to get into the picture with some non-human characters.

We walked out to the leaping fountain area, and both kids were excited to go have fun.

Luke ended up getting pretty wet.

Lyear · Mar 1, 2018

Being wet ended up not being such a bad thing, because it was time for our final fastpass of our trip, at Nemo. He was a little cold as we waited in line, but didn't complain too much.

Once we finished Nemo, Sara wanted to run to Mouse Gear to get some last minute stuff. She also bought about 8 packages of Goofy candy since we still had so many snack credits left. We're still eating Goofy candy in our house 2 and a half months later. Luke, Makayla and I found a semi-empty spot outside of the Coral Reef restaurant and played some tag, then grabbed ice cream bars from a nearby vendor.

Once we had finished our snack we met up with Sara in front of the fountain and made the sad turn towards the exit.

So long Epcot. So long WDW.

We made the long walk to the car, and the kids settled in for their long car ride home, complete with a snack popcorn for each.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, I got an alert on my phone. It was the WDWtoday twitter feed notifying me that they had caught up to CM Rick from MK and notified him of our compliment. It seemed like a perfect close to our trip.

The ride back was, thankfully, fairly uneventful. Sara got to experience a very sketchy 7-11 bathroom during a gas stop. We made it to Savannah before stopping for the night, and the next day traveled most of the day. Luke kept his Mickey soccer ball with him the entire trip and made sure to bring it at each rest stop.

We made it back to Pennsylvania about 8:30 on Sunday, December 17th. Sara had to wake up early the following day. I got Luke on the school bus, and took Makayla, to daycare. She had a nice surprise waiting for her.

That ends our 2017 trip report. As I sit here, it's hard to come up with individual moments that stood out, because the entire trip was so great. I'll always remember Makayla being so excited about Elsa waving to her in the parade, and how excited Luke was to go on the seven dwarves mine train, and tell me all about it as we used child swap and I got to go with him for his second ride. It was a magical trip, and we can't wait to go on our next one.

We're pretty sure we're going to move our next trip back a month. Going in December is great, but it makes the Christmas season back home feel pretty rushed. So as it stands right now, we think we're going to go in the late January, early February time frame of 2019. So in other words, right around the time the Eagles are winning their second Super Bowl

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Finally, a GIANT thank you to everyone who followed along with the encouraging comments and likes. It makes the task of writing a trip report so much easier. We hope to see you again in early 2019.

amjt660 · Mar 2, 2018

Great wrap up to a wonderful trip
Thank you for sharing
It is great to see the progression of you your two children through Disney experiences
Keep in touch and please do a PTR when your 2019 plan become more solidified

Max

Tuvalu · Mar 2, 2018

Really enjoyed reading this year’s trip report...so fun to see how much your kids have grown....so happy you are raising them with Disney love!

joshsprincess921 · Mar 2, 2018

Loved your report, thanks for sharing!